'Go, Granny, Go' plays N.C. Stage

“Go, Granny, Go,” highlighting the story of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, will play weekends Jan. 11 to 20, at Asheville's professional theater, NC Stage (downtown, 15 Stage Lane). Shows will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Jan. 11 to 13, and 18 to 20, and at 2 p.m. Sundays. The play features actress Barbara Bates Smith and her musical accompanist, Jeff Sebens. “Granny D,” a 90-year-old in 2000, was considered a national heroine as she completed a walk from Los Angeles to Washington DC to bring attention to campaign finance reform. "Go, Granny, Go," originally presented as a one-act fundraiser for Haywood Democrats in August, has been expanded to two acts, covering her continued bipartisan election reform efforts, a countrywide voter registration drive, and a U.S. Senate race, before her death in 2010. Her memoir, "Granny D: You're Never too Old to Raise a Little Hell," from which Smith adapted the play, was praised by supporters John McCain, Jimmy Carter and Bill Moyers. Barbara Bates Smith, noted for her Off-Broadway adaptation and performance of “Ivy Rowe” from Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies, has toured for 20 years with the works of Lee Smith — and more recently with those of Ron Rash and Allan Gurganus, as well, in her current "Civil War Cameos." She recently starred in "August: Osage County" at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, in Waynesville.

For tickets, visit www.ncstage.org or call 239-0263. More information is on Smith's website, www.barbarabatessmith.com.